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The "Over Share": How Social Media Posts Can Impact Your Personal Injury Claim
17 Dec The "Over Share": How Social Media Posts Can Impact Your Personal Injury Claim
Posted at 09:40h in Blog	by	Alexander Smith
Written By: David Lackman, Personal Injury Lawyer
"Before the dawn of the Internet age, people often communicated by writing personal letters to each other. It could be said that such letters served to keep friends and family connected, and provided a medium in which people would share information with each other about what matters to them. They might even discuss the state of their health, if they happened to have suffered a traumatic event such as a motor vehicle accident in the recent past. However, it is unimaginable that a defendant would have demanded that a plaintiff disclose copies of all personal letters written since the accident, in the hope that there might be some information contained therein relevant to the plaintiff's claim for non-pecuniary damages. The shocking intrusiveness of such a request is obvious. The defendants' demand for disclosure of the entire contents of the plaintiff's Facebook account is the digital equivalent of doing so."
Stewart v. Kempster, 2012 ONSC 7236 (CanLII), 114 O.R. (3d) 151, para 29
Growing up in the age of the Internet can be challenging. Young children have always been taught that everyone makes mistakes and that mistakes can be a good thing because they are how we learn. Usually very few people see our mistakes; if they are embarrassing or cause harm to others, the damage is often limited.
But when you make a mistake online such as uploading a photo that you later regret taking, or making an inappropriate comment, people all over the world can see it. Even if it's deleted, it can live on forever if someone's saved archive.
Adults of course have made these kinds of mistakes too, and some of us have learned that we need to be more careful about what we share on the Internet and with whom we share it. If we use social media to communicate with friends, we may decide to make our accounts private and viewable to only certain people or control which of our friends see certain posts.
Are these privacy tools giving us a false sense of security? It's a question we can consider in a number of ways. In this blog, I look at what rulings can tell us from a few significant personal injury cases where defendants have sought to use social media posts against plaintiffs. The few cases cited are hardly exhaustive, but they are illustrative and instructive.
Public Surveillance, Private Posts?
As you read forward, keep in mind the quoted passage at the top of this blog post, taken from Stewart v. Kempster. When a person launches a personal injury claim which makes assertions about how an accident or medical condition has negatively impacted their physical and/or mental abilities and enjoyment of life, they must provide evidence supporting their claims. This evidence can be from medical reports, witness testimony or other documents that demonstrate what their life was like before and after the accident or onset of the medical condition.
The defence has the right to question the veracity and strength of this evidence and/or produce its own evidence which might paint a different picture or tell a different story. Sometimes this can be in the form of its own expert witnesses, but other times the defence may draw on other evidence such as private investigators' surveillance photos or videos which purport to show the accident victim is not as hurt or disabled as they have claimed.
There are laws that prevent private investigators or surveillance from violating a person's right to privacy, and a judge might either disallow or limit consideration of such evidence unless it meets certain criteria for inclusion.
How does social media activity fit into this debate? Are our posts online deemed to be public? What if we have taken steps to maintain privacy by limiting who can see our posts? These are questions that have become much discussed in the last decade or so as online activities and social media grow in popularity.
Is There Court Protection of Private Social Media Accounts?
The Rules of Civil Procedure oblige each party to disclose "every document relating to any matter in issue in an action that is or has been in the possession, control or power of a party". They must produce these documents unless privilege is claimed over them, even if it is contrary to their interests in the action. In Leduc v. Roman (2009 CanLii 6838), the plaintiff was involved in a car accident in which he claimed the defendant's negligence had caused a personal injury which negatively impacted his enjoyment of life. The defence discovered the plaintiff had a Facebook page, but it had been made private so that only the plaintiff's Facebook friends could see any posted content beyond his public profile photo and name. The defence moved for a preservation and production order of all information on the plaintiff's Facebook page.
The trial judge held that the Facebook profile pages were "documents", that they lay within the control of the plaintiff, and that they could contain information that "might have some relevance to demonstrating the plaintiff's physical and social activities, enjoyment of life and psychological well being". However, the judge also held that the defendant bore the onus "to demonstrate that this plaintiff has relevant materials on this plaintiff's website". Merely speculating about what might exist on the plaintiff's profile based on the general use of the social media platform by other users was not enough. Noting that the same would be true of a photo album or diary, the judge said the defendant could have asked whether the plaintiff had photos that demonstrated his lifestyle before and after the accident, but there was no record that these questions were asked. The judge stated that the defendant's request was "clearly a fishing expedition", and even if he were to consider the production order, the request for the entire site would be far too broad.
The Appeal
An appeal judge disagreed with some of the trial judge's reasoning in Leduc v. Roman. Justice D.M. Brown stated that "from the general evidence about Facebook filed on this motion it is clear that Facebook is not used as a means by which account holders carry on monologues with themselves; it is a device by which users share with others information about who they are, what they like, what they do, and where they go, in varying degrees of detail. Facebook profiles are not designed to function as diaries; they enable users to construct personal networks or communities of "friends" with whom they can share information about themselves, and on which "friends" can post information about the user".
Justice Brown held that "a party who maintains a private, or limited access, Facebook profile stands in no different position than one who sets up a publicly-available profile. Both are obliged to identify and produce any postings that relate to any matter in issue in an action". He disagreed with the trial judge's characterization that the production request was a fishing expedition because the plaintiff "exercised control over a social networking and information site to which he allowed designated "friends" access. It is reasonable to infer that his social networking site likely contains some content relevant to the issue of how [the plaintiff] has been able to lead his life since the accident". Justice Brown found that a principle set out by Justice Rady in Murphy v. Preger, that a court can infer, from the nature of the Facebook service, the likely existence of relevant documents on a limited-access Facebook profile, was not correctly applied by the trial judge.
The appeal judge concluded that: "To permit a party claiming very substantial damages for loss of enjoyment of life to hide behind self-set privacy controls on a website, the primary purpose of which is to enable people to share information about how they lead their social lives, risks depriving the opposite party of access to material that may be relevant to ensuring a fair trial". While the production order was very broad, Justice Brown wrote that the defendant should have an opportunity to cross-examine the plaintiff on the affidavit of documents about what kinds of posts were made on the Facebook page when few or no documents are disclosed.
Where Does Case Law Stand Now?
Ten years can feel like an eternity in the ephemeral world of the Internet. Some older social media sites such as Facebook have grown in popularity while adapting to the ways social media users interact with each other, and new entrants are appearing all the time.
In Isacov v Shwartzberg, (2018 ONSC 5933), Master D. E. Short summarized relevant case law on social media in civil actions since Murphy v. Preger and concluded that "in the present technological environment there is a need to include Facebook and similar on line data relevant to matters in issue in personal injury litigation in the appropriate schedules of each party's Affidavit of Documents".
Interestingly, justices in some cases cited in this review have differed from Justice Rady's view of the degree to which privacy must be considered in order to review social media accounts where privacy controls are used.
Although neither needed to make a ruling on access to a plaintiff's private social media page based on the facts before them, Justice L.C. Leitch in Jones v. I.F. Propco Holdings (Ontario) 31 Ltd., (2018 ONSC 23) noted that she and Justice Heeney considered the view that if a social media user without a public profile limits access of their profile to 100 or so 'friends' out of a billion users, it suggests that social media user has an interest in protecting her privacy.
While social media's use is in flux, case law has been consistent in considering public social media posts to be open for inclusion in the Affidavit of Documents. Accounts that use privacy settings to protect viewability of content are still deemed to fall under a party's obligation to include relevant documents. Master Short suggested that if a review of these accounts found no evidence, no harm would come to the plaintiff and her case. If relevant documents were discovered, the plaintiff would have an opportunity to provide an explanation at trial.
Apart from rulings on discovery motions, keep in mind that the scope of evidentiary discovery is generally broader than the scope of admissibility of evidence at trial. Therefore, it will ultimately be open to the trial judge to consider the admissibility of social media evidence at trial should the issue be raised in that forum. Having said that, however, it may also be fair to say that once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it is pretty tough to place back in.
What Does This Mean For Victims of Personal Injuries?
Photos and videos are only moments in time. People with physical or mental disabilities will often tell you they have good days and bad days, and what they are able to do can vary significantly. As personal injury lawyers, we are well aware of how defence counsel can try to use surveillance to suggest a plaintiff is not as disabled as they claim. While it is true that plaintiff's counsel can often make strong counter arguments, what is also true is that the way injury victims physically present themselves in public settings or online can have an impact on their case.
You may believe that you have protected your privacy online by limiting access to your social media profile to friends. However, by sharing documents, images or videos that could be relevant in a legal case, you will not necessarily have the same degree of privacy in a court proceeding.
After an accident, consider limiting what photos, videos or personal social media updates you share with others about your activities; they could unwittingly compromise the case you are making. Or, if you do continue to share this information, keep in mind how you may have to explain it if it comes up in discovery or at trial. As for photos, videos and other social media information that you posted before the injury occurred, you may also have to live with the disclosure of some or all of it in a subsequent legal proceeding despite your privacy settings.
When your finger is hovering over the "post" button, it is always best to think twice.
The Gluckstein Advantage
Looking out for your well-being and best interests in all aspects of your case and recovery is part of Gluckstein Lawyers' commitment to full circle care. If you or a loved one has suffered a personal injury, contact us to find out more about how we can advocate for your needs.
case law insurance claim Personal Injury privacy Social Media social media posts


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Curling season in Hope has begun
The club is hosting a no-cost funspiel on Oct. 3 to help attract new members
Barry Stewart
Taking up house painting in his retirement years… Hope Curling Club member Ken Campbell applies a coat of paint
Eight houses were flooded multiple times in September — but no one bothered to call the insurance company. In addition, a bearded man was seen liberally tossing pebbles while others were hurling large rocks… but no one reported the incidents to the RCMP.
That must mean: "Curling season has begun!"
Hope Curling Club's iceman, Roman Petryk, said that in preparation for the coming season, he had the twin cooling plants running for two days to get the floor temperature well below freezing. When the time was right, the water was hosed on.
"We've got about an inch and a half (four centimetres) of ice now," he said on Tuesday. "We had six floodings to get the floor level, then we applied white wash and painted the lines and circles (known as houses) — then it was four more floods on top of that."
As club member Ken Campbell found: you don't have to wait for the paint to dry. In fact, if you forget to keep the roller moving, it freezes in-place.
After the final flood, the bearded Petryk cleaned up with a shave… of the ice, to remove dirt and minerals that rose to the top. His finishing touch was to pebble the surface with a spray of water droplets, which will give the curling stones more predictable action.
With the Monday men's and Wednesday-Thursday mixed leagues commencing the week of Oct. 13, the club is opening its doors to members and newcomers this week and next, to boost its numbers and get teams set up.
Tomorrow (Friday), the club is hosting a no-cost funspiel.
"Everyone is welcome," said Petryk. "It's a one-night event for members and non-members. Non-curlers are welcome, too.
"We'd like people to get here by 7 p.m., then we'll make up the teams and take it from there."
Monday through Thursday next week, the ice will be open for free practice, starting at 7 p.m. Those without curling footwear should bring a clean pair of running or walking shoes. And please: no sequins or feather boas… one foreign object on the ice can ruin a shot.
"I'll be there, along with other club members, to give lessons to newcomers," said Petryk.
"A year's membership for one night per week is $250," said Petryk, "and if you want to curl two nights, the second night is another $150."
One problem with season-long commitment is that a number of retired residents like to travel southward during the winter.
"We discussed that at our general meeting," said Petryk. "Some people want to curl just to December. We're still working on that. There are also quite a few who put their name on the spare board, in case a team is short a player for a night."
The club has planned a men's and women's combined bonspiel (two separate events under one roof) for the Jan. 30 weekend and the mixed bonspiel is slated for the Feb. 27 weekend.
The club's phone number is 604-869-5119, while Campbell can be reached at 604-869-7281 and Petryk 604-869-9334. All three have answering machines.
Hope athletes compete at BC Senior Games

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


A reliability approach for probabilistic modeling of reactive transport in porous media provides two important quantitative results: (1) an estimate of the probability that dimensionless concentration equals or exceeds some specified level and (2) a probabilistic sensitivity measure which quantifies the relative importance of each uncertain variable with respect to the probabilistic outcome. The approach is potentially attractive because it can provide both a probability estimate and probabilistic sensitivity measures; this is especially important for relatively low probability events where Monte Carlo simulation may require hundreds of thousands of realizations for reasonable results. The reliability method can incorporate marginal probability distribution functions (PDF) and correlation between uncertain variables, and the general method can be used with existing analytical or numerical solutions. However, a first-order reliability approach provides only an approximate probability measure; the accuracy is a function of performance criterion and statistical characteristics of the uncertain variables. The methodology and results here focus on probabilistic sensitivity measures which indicate the importance of any uncertain variable to the probabilistic outcome. In this work, one-dimensional reactive transport is investigated with the following uncertain variables: groundwater flow velocity, diffusion coefficient, dispersivity, distribution coefficient, porosity, and bulk density. We examine how probabilistic outcome and sensitivity are influenced by choice of marginal PDF, correlation, and magnitude of uncertainty for the variables. We also compare the probabilistic sensitivity results to typical deterministic sensitivity measures. Results indicate that the probabilistic outcome is most sensitive to likely changes in flow velocity and the reaction terms. Diffusion coefficient can also be an important uncertain variable but only when it has significantly higher uncertainty (coefficient of variation) than any other variable. For some cases shown in this paper, dispersivity and diffusion coefficient can be treated as deterministic variables with little impact on the probabilistic outcome.
J. D. Cawlfield and M. Wu, "Probabilistic Sensitivity Analysis for One-Dimensional Reactive Transport in Porous Media," Water Resources Research, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 661-672, American Geophysical Union (AGU), Mar 1993.
© 1993 American Geophysical Union (AGU), All rights reserved.


A place of work assessment is an important tool for dealing with safety at your place of work.
What is a place of work assessment?
Who should create a place of work assessment?
Have you prepared a place of work assessment at your company?


Hi peoples, this picture is about Beach Theme Decorations ( Beach Theme Decorations #3). It is a image/jpeg and the resolution of this attachment is 1360 x 850. This image's file size is only 218 KB. Wether You ought to save This picture to Your PC, you can Click here. You may also see more attachments by clicking the photo below or see more at this post: Beach Theme Decorations.
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Q: How to export a python function in R package development using reticulate? Can I export a python function like Rcpp by adding this line before a function:
// [[Rcpp::export]]

A: This does not work the exact same way.
But you can write an R function which, using reticulate, access a Python function, has it compute its return value, and provide that to R.  That R helper function can then be provided just like any other R function.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Tag Archives: CBOE
POCKETBOOK: Week ending Nov 10, 2017
November 13, 2017 Uncategorizedblack incomes, CBOE, CNNMoney, Federal Reserve, gift cards, Hispanic incomes, Investors still buying mutual funds, Low-incomes really low, VIX, white incomesdianvujovich
From CNNMoney.com
Income levels not so hot
If a picture is worth 1000 words, than a chart has got to be worth more. Right?
A recent Federal Reserve study revealed that the wealth gap is growing—but we already knew that; that unemployment has hit a 17-year low—we knew that too; and that the top 1% holds 38.6% of the nation's wealth up from 33.7% in 2007—and we kinda sorta knew that as well.
But perhaps what we didn't know was how the racial gap of low-income families had changed—-especially for white people.
From a CNNMoney.com story titled, "Included: Poor white Americans are getting poorer: what diversity numbers don't say", posted November 10, 2017, comes this: "The wealth of low-income white people was cut almost in half since the recession while the wealth of black and Hispanic families in the same bracket remained stable."
Move levels up a notch and things change.
"The median white family is worth nearly ten times as much as the median black family and about 8 times as much as the median Hispanic family, " says CNNMoney's Lydia DePillis.
(Full story at: http://cnnmon.ie/2zLiluY )
The CBOE Volatility Index, VIX, is worth looking at because of its performance: Although the indices followed below have had a heck of a positive performance year, the VIX's year-to-date and 1-year returns are down around 20%. Or down at -19.59% and -20.32% respectively at the close of business on Friday, November 10, 2017.
As for the DJIA, S&P 500, Nasdaq and Russell 2000, last we they all lost ground.
That's not to say there is a bear preparing to tear up Wall Street. But, when you combine market volatility, inflation, rising interests rates along with disappointing earnings and policy promises that don't come true from Washington, that clawing creature can't be far away.
Below are the weekly and 1-year index performance results for four major indices— including the dates each reached new highs—according to CNBC.com based on prices at the close of business on Friday, November 10, 2017.
–DJIA +18.52% YTD down from last week's 19.11%.
1 yr Rtn +24.27% way down from last week's 31.28%
Another new all-time high of 23,602.12 was reached on November 7, 2017.
The previous high of 23,557.06 was reached November 3, 2017. On March 1, the Dow stood at 21,169.11.
-S&P 500 +15.34% YTD down a bit from last week's 15.59%.
1yr Rtn +19.31% down considerably from last week's +23.90%
The S&P 500 reached another new high on November 7, 2017 of 2,597.02
The previous high of 2,588.42 was reached on November 3, 2017. On March 1, 2017, that index stood at 2,400.98.
-NASDAQ +25.66% YTD down from last week's +25.66%.
1yr Rtn +28.91% down a lot from last week's 33.73%
The Nasdaq reached a new all-time high of 6,795.52 on November 7, 2017.
A previous high of 6,765.14 was reached on November 3, 2017. On April 5, 2017 the index closed at 5,936.39.
-Russell 2000 +8.71%YTD down from last week's +10.15%
1yr Rtn +15.04% down from last week's +29.22%
The Russell 2000 reached a new all-time high of 1,514.94 on October 05, 2017. On March 1, 2017 this index stood at 1,414,82.
Investors are still lapping up shares of mutual funds and ETFs.
According to data from Thomson Reuters Lipper, in the week ending November 8, 2017, investors purchased $17.5 billion in fund assets.
Equity funds picked up$4.7 billion; taxable bond funds $1.6 billion, money market funds $10.8 billion and municipal bond funds $463 million.
Exchange Traded Funds, ETFs, saw inflows of more that $5.0 billion.
More specifically, the year-to-date average cumulative total reinvested return for equity funds falling under the broad U.S. Diversified Equity Funds moved downward as the close of business on Thursday, November 2, 2017, according to Lipper. The average return was +13.90%. That's down from the previous week's return of +14.24%.
Great Gift Cards
Depending upon whom you ask, gift cards are either great gifts or aren't worth purchasing because they aren't used.
Most people like getting them with stats showing somewhere between 6 and 10% of them go unredeemed.
But the trick in getting someone to use their card is the same as the challenge of picking out a present you know they will love: You have to know what they like/don't like or use/won't use.
WalletHub recently conducted a survey asking about gift card use. Here are some of the results:
-Last year's Most Popular Gift Cards—Amazon Gift Card and Visa Gift Card were each ranked #1; Walmart Gift Card ranked #3; iTunes Gift Card ranked #4 and American Express Gift Card ranked #5.
-Gift cards with the biggest increase in popularity over the past year was Trader Joe's.
-Gift cards with the biggest drop in popularity were those from the Apple Store and H&M.
Happy shopping.


Forensic and investigative accounting help beat fraud and theft; they are persistent and pervasive issues in America's corporate landscape. These far-reaching and increasingly complex activities can be multi-million dollar problems. Corporate crime poses a real and substantial threat to the stability of any business.
Taking the proper measures to prevent fraud or to react quickly to employee dishonesty is critical. Fraud does not discern between geography, size of company, industry or business scope. No organization is immune. Fraud examiners assist clients in developing and executing strategies for investigation and provide solutions to mitigate the future risk of fraud.
Our professionals combine the experience and expertise of CPAs and Certified Fraud Examiners. We assist clients and their counsel during all types and phases of investigation. RMA professionals offer a variety of forensic accounting expertise including internal fraud investigation and expert witness testimony.
5% of annual revenues to fraud.
at least $1 million in losses.
involve check tampering, skimming revenues, and processing fraudulent invoices.
convictions prior to committing their frauds.
RMA provides confidential, professional resources to investigate fraud and/or advise on ways to manage, mitigate and minimize risk. Through in-depth forensic accounting diagnosis and investigative expertise, we help our clients to identify and quantify lost funds, stop further losses and assist with recovery actions.
Do you know what steps to take?
Fraud, impropriety and employee dishonesty occur within most businesses. If suspected within your company, do you know what steps to take?
You receive an anonymous "whistle blower" tip from within your company regarding accounting issues. Are you prepared to appropriately and thoroughly investigate the matter? Do you have the background to manage through the business ramifications?
You're given a demand or inquiry from the SEC or U.S. Department of Labor regarding a suspected irregularity in your financial statements. Do you know how to proceed?
Involved in a legal dispute requiring specialized testimony?
Businesses pursuing or defending legal matters in court often require and benefit from expert investigation and testimony.


Architecture Huettl Landscape . You might be thinking that, what is Sunol landscape? Sunol is actually small town which is located in Alameda. This place got its importance for its beautiful scenic beauty. Sunol is also famous for "historical railroad" which is still present there. Let's now discuss some of the landscape features of Sunol. The Sunol landscape designers usually focus on the curb appeal. The main ingredients of their plan is "Arbours Fountains", "outdoor fireplace". The main attraction of their plan is "pondless waterfalls". The designers are specialised in creative gardening, with variety of themes, as Sunol is famous for vineyards, they also give touch of beautiful small vineyards at the garden. They have actually started their business in the year 1979.


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Q: How to tell the PhpStorm IDE that a constant exists? The IDE (PS-117.65) is complaining that some of constants aren't defined.
I've defined them in a loop in another file. Can I put a doc comment at the top of this file to inform it about the constants? The usual /** @var and @global syntax doesn't seem to work for constants.

A: There is no known to me PHPDoc comment to do that.
But you can "fake" them -- create some const.php file and place it anywhere in a project (you can even place it in separate folder outside the project and attach it as External Library or as separate Content Root).
In this file -- define those constants with in a normal way: define("CONST_NAME", "value"); The "value" part can be anything (as long as types are matching -- useful for inspections/code analysis) -- it really depends where those constant will be used (e.g. if they are used in include/require statements, then it may be beneficial to have some real (or close to it) values there).


I am considering purchasing a Ninja for juicing (I like pulp) and food processing. Does the Mega make the pulp finer? I don't want to spend that much extra $ if I would end up with fhe same product. Thanks!!
I think it is probably debatable if the mega makes the pulp finer, as the blade design is exactly the same in the Ninja Pro, Ninja Kitchen System, and Ninja Mega – a triple blade that goes through the center. The single serve cup makes finer pulp than the 72 ounce jar due to the blade design (more of a traditional blade on the bottom). So, if you like pulp and want to save $$, I would say you will be just fine with either the Ninja Professional Blender or Ninja Kitchen System.
I like the single serving option. I forgot to mention that. Would the Pulse do as good? Thanks so much for taking the time to reply.
You know, I really love my Pulse and use it almost daily. We are doing a whole house remodel and I don't have a lot of space right now, so it stays out and everything else is temporarily put away. The 40 ounce pitcher is a good food processor, and the single serve cup is highly capable, especially for single smoothies or juices. It only has half the power (700 watts vs 1500) of the Ninja Mega, so, it's not quite the "powerhouse," but it is definitely capable for its cost and size, and is much better than a standard blender. It is fine for juicing (both pitcher and single serve), but you could get into some situations with needing a little more power here and there if you're blending something really dense. The way out of that is to simply pulse what you're blending instead of trying to steady state blend, in those rare instances. The default for the Pulse is to pulse, but it does have the capability to steady state blend simply by holding down the cup or jar lid – there is only one speed when steady state blending, though. And, of course, the cost is just fantastic as compared to its bigger siblings. If you are looking for simplicity and single serve blending, it would certainly do the job!
I would like to make some tomato juice out of my extra tomatoes this year from my garden. I was wondering if you thought it would do a proper job. Thank you in advance for your input.
That's a good question. My gut reaction is yes, it is in fact possible, but you will have to strain the juice. However, I have not tried to make tomato juice. I'll pick up some tomatoes this week and give it a whirl and let you know.
so I live my ninja for everything but carrots and broccoli. I think I need to grind those separately. Stiil a bit thick for me.
I am soooo excited I found your page!! I just got my Ninja Mega Kitchen System tonight (it was a Christmas gift, but required an exchange– I ended up with mine for only $14 out of pocket!) and I cannot wait to make my green smoothies!!! As well as finding out all the other great stuff it can do– hopefully I'll have some recipes to share!!!
Exciting that you made it work out to get a Mega KS! It makes fantastic green smoothies – have fun!
If you want straight up carrot juice, you'll probably end up straining it since they are not super watery like an apple or orange. Just add a few ice cubes or 1/4 cup water to your carrots, blend, and then strain for more traditional pulp-free juice. I have put carrots in a bunch of my "blends" where I mix up a few different fruits and veggies, and it works just fine. Lately, I put in a beet, a carrot, an apple, and an orange, and that makes a pretty decent (thick) juice. There is no discernible carrot pulp, so I'd say they work pretty well. Hope that helps!
I was wondering how it does with crushing strawberry and raspberry seeds? I like pulp, but don't like to drink a smoothie and bite down on seeds. Does it pulverize the seeds? Thanks!
I wasn't sure about this, so I made the following smoothie for breakfast: 1.25 cups rice milk, handful raspberries, handful blackberries, handful blueberries, 1 scoop protein, 1/2 avocado. And, the blackberry seeds didn't get pulverized. The raspberry seeds are indiscernible, but there are definitely still blackberry seeds.
Thank you for this great write up on the new ninja mega kitchen system. I bought a centrifugal juicers and was very excited about the possibilities of losing weight and being healthy. My wife and i juiced for a little over a week and had sensible meals for dinner. We both lost 25 pound all together in a weeks use. So after using the centrifugal juicers i noticed that the pulp was still wet/damp and started rerunning the pulp to get my moneys worth. I thought to myself their has to be a better way of doing this. Saw the ninja mega on the tv saw them demonstrate the juicing capabilities and thought to myself, bingo. I don't have the money to blow on this thing and it not work that well. So for a couple weeks now i have been trying to see if it really is good at juicing and i found your site. It is great to hear that this product does work well. I can't wait to get back to juicing so my wife and I can continue to lose weight and feel great.
I'm glad to help! I just finished a nice green juice of spinach, frozen pineapple, frozen mango, kiwi, cucumber, and mint. I added about 6 ounces of coconut water in lieu of ice to help it blend. You can definitely make juices in the Ninja Mega KS! And, you won't have all that pulp as waste (or to clean out of a machine). Good luck, and congratulations on your progress so far, that's fantastic!
Hi there! I just bought a mega system and do you have suggestions for how to fill it for a green smoothie? I put my ice andfrozen frozen fruit at the bottom and loaded the top with kale and spinach. The bottom blended but the top did not. I had to remove the lid and scrape down. Any suggestions or advice I would welcome.
You definitely want the ice and frozen fruit on the top — that will help blend your smoothie better. The order I do is this: 1) liquid and hard veggies like cucumber, if using 2) greens, 3) frozen fruit and ice.
Pulse a few times to get started, and then blend for 1-2 minutes on 3 until fully combined.
Thank you I will try that tomorrow. One more question that I did not see an answer for in the booklet. Does the ninja automatically stop when blended?
That is a great question that no one else has ever asked! The Ninja does not stop automatically when blended. It is up to you to determine when to stop it. The only time it would stop automatically is if the machine overheats (which I have never had it do).
Thank you so much for your help! I just wanted to say that you and your website with all your useful information is the reason I bought the mega system. I was looking into the vitamix and blendtec. I just could not wrap my head around the cost between 470.00 and 500.00. I purchased the mega at Kohl's on sale and had a 30% off coupon and got 30 back in Kohl's cash..which I count as money off the purchase. So I walked out of there with the mega for 130.00!
Aw, thanks Lauren. I'm glad you found the site helpful, AND that is an amazing deal you found!! Nice job!
Thank you for the fantastic review. I have been debating the Kitchen Ninja purchase for some time. I'm still on the fence about the actual purchase (for financial reasons) but this helps me to discern the product and its capabilities itself. I still feel there are questions that I have not yet thought of, but will continue to read your pages to help make my decision.
If there were any reservations that a person would have about this machine, what would you say that it's lacking?
2) The plastic jar is seen as a negative to some. I see it as a pro and a con. A glass jar this large would be so heavy! But, plastic is not as durable as glass, so it can get scratched if you are not careful.
Other than that, I really can't think of any. I have been using my Mega KS for 5 months now with no issues. I also have a Ninja Pro that has been going strong for 2+ years, and a Ninja Pulse that has been great for 1.5+ years. The Ninja products are durable!
I am SOOO happy that I came across your site! The UPS man just delivered my Mega Kitchen System 1500 today and I am so excited to try it out! I had been looking into a vitamix for awhile, but even though I know they work great (my sister & several friends have one) I just couldn't bring myself to pay that high dollar amount. I look forward to going through more sections of your site and not only reading what you've written but also the comments from others – sometimes they have even more useful information in them!
Hi, I just bought this system and had the nutribullet prior for extract juicing. I was looking at something bigger because I love to make a lot and fridge it up for the week I have a question/suggestion, what about just adding more water to the pitcher when juicing. I always had to do this with the nutribullet to help smooth it out and it really worked and wasn't as thick. It also helped with the seeds of berries.
Another question, can you do any kind of nut because I add nuts to all my juices in the nutribullet so I would assume the same would be for the ninja mega??
Thank you for all your reviews on these products, they are very helpful!
You totally could add more water in the pitcher when juicing if you like to keep the pulp – that's definitely a personal preference item. I like to add the ice cubes because it also chills the fruit/veggies, and seems to help smooth out the greens (if using). But, yes, you could do this!
It can do any kind of nut, no problem at all. Enjoy!
I was considering the Ninja Mega Kitchen System with the optional veggie slicer. I am currently about 30 lbs. over my ideal weight, most of that is my spare tire. How does the Ninja work on spare tires?
i got the Ninja 1500 a week ago after juicing with a $50 one for almost 6 month. was hoping to get something stronger and bigger..makeing a lot of green smoothies and find out that all the greens stay between my teeth with this one:( help?
2) Make your green smoothies in the single serve cups. The blade design is more "traditional" and you will get a very smooth green smoothie from the get go. I usually add the liquid and greens into the cup first, blend to pulverize and make more room in the cup, and then add remaining ingredients.
I do a lot of juicing so I liked the idea of the big pitcher so in order to make more smoothies, I make everything in the big pitcher and then transfer into the smaller cup to to do a proper extraction of the pulp to make it more smooth. It is a little more work but I can still make a bunch more at one time and then I just transfer to other cups that I have bought. It works out okay but the blade are meant more for blending rather than pulverizing, but they do an ok job compared to any other blender out there!!
Rachel, that is a good tip, thank you! I have heard of others doing that as well. I think it just depends on your tolerance for more dishes. Personally, I think your solution is a great one! Thanks!
My husband just purchased the Ninja for me and wanted to know if I can "juice" carrots in this? Do they have to be par cooked? I would like to make a carrot apple juice…maybe with some celery? Thank you!
You can make carrot juice with the Ninja and they don't have to be cooked, but it will have to be strained. Some people don't mind straining the juice, some people are totally put off by it. Personally, I don't mind straining because it's still easier than cleaning a juicer.
Thank you for your reply. I haven't even had time to use the ninja yet! But I think it's time to this weekend! And I am going to start with carrot apple juice. Do you think if I blanched the juice it would be less pulpy? What do you strain the juice through? Thanks again for the tips!
I personally wouldn't blanch the juice – the amount of pulp will be the same since it is still in there. I strain the juice using a mesh over-the-bowl strainer (you can get them at Target or even a grocery store), but you could use many things. A lot of folks use nut milk bags for fast straining. Have fun!
Wonderful! Thank you….and why didn't I think of milk nut bags! lol! have a great weekend!
Hi, I recently bought a Ninja Kitchen System and have been making smoothies with it. I haven't been satisfied with the creaminess of the results. I often include kale and spinach. My old Oyster blender would deliver deliciously creamy smoothies. Any suggestions? I was so excited to obtain the new system, but have been rather disappointed as of yet.
I make a ton of smoothies and I like a finer texture. What Ive found is I freeze everything with the exception of my liquid and yogurt. I dont use any ice cubes the frozen fruits and veggies blend better and the yogurt smooths out the texture and thats my protein source rather than a protein powder. I use about 1/2c of yogurt to my mystery smoothie of the day is. Works great.
Thanks for this review! I recently saw the Vitamix 5200 at my local fair, and ALMOST purchased for $500. I've wanted a quality whole-food juicer for a long time. I am leaning much more toward the Ninja Mega system now since it seems to function very much the same.
It's been a little while since anyone has posted here. Are there any new updates to share? How about cleaning the machine? Also…as the blades are sharp (not sharp in the Vitamix) I'm wondering how often they will need to be sharpened.
The notable item that I always point out is the difference in blade design. The Ninja pitchers will not get greens quite as smooth as a Vitamix in as fast of a time (you have to add ice and blender longer in the Ninja to get a smooth green drink), but, there are so many neat things the Ninja can do because of the blade design. It is really versatile. The single serve cups will pulverize greens quickly, for what it's worth, due to their blade design.
Washing is easy – put it in the dishwasher or add a drop of soap and blend for 30-45 seconds and rinse out, much like a Vitamix. The blades do not ever need to be sharpened.
For what it's worth, I've had the Mega for almost a year now, use it every day, and it is still going strong.
I decided to try out my Ninja to see if it would be adequate for juicing. I have to say that when I used fruit it was wonderful. I used one grapefruit, one apple, and 2 peaches. All I could really taste was the grapefruit, but it was drinkable. I think I would only use part of the grapefruit next time. One smoothy I have made before was peach, apple, and blueberry. It has a great flavor. It would probably be a wonderful juice too. The only part which would be different is that it wouldn't have milk and yogurt which I typically put into my smoothies.
I then decided to use veggies. YUCK! It was like eating dirt. The texture was horrible. BUT, I used a beet and I think that was too much texture for a juice without using a "real" juicer. I had also used celery, spinach, kale, and carrot. I really feel it was the beet that made it taste like dirt (yes I did wash it – lol). I had to add water to this combination, because it was not turning to juice. It was chopped veggies in a blender. I think I would recommend using some type of fruit to offset the blah taste of the veggies, but I think it's important to have more veggies throughout the day than fruit.
I would tend to agree that the beet is probably the culprit in your "dirt juice"! Did you peel it? If I'm adding beet to a juice or smoothie, I tend to use a small-ish chunk since a little goes a long way. It's all a trial-and-error thing, so good on you for trying lots of different combos!
I just bought the Mega Kitchen System 1500. Am looking for green juice & smoothie recipes – any ideas?
Thanks for your posts!!! Really helpful!
I have several green smoothies and juices on my Ninja Blender recipes page. My favorite is this one: http://testkitchentuesday.com/2012/06/18/juicing-with-the-ninja-blender-part-2/, which you can either strain or drink with the pulp. It's tasty. But, like I said, I have several if you surf on over to my Ninja Recipe page.
Just recently got a ninja blender as a Christmas gift and I'm super excited to try it out! Ive always wanted a juicer but didn't want the worry about the trouble of cleaning a juicer so I heard the ninja was another great option. My only concern is that I don't always want to have to worry about straining after making a greens drink so my question is will that be a concern of what kind of fruits and veggies I put in or just a matter of adding more water or ice in? I don't mind pulp but I would like to just drink a nice smooth drink instead of having to strain. Also if I wanted to make a greens recipe in the big pitcher could I make it and store it in the fridge or would that not last long?
The Ninja is definitely an option for juices with the pulp if you don't want to strain. The key is exactly what you said – add in more ice to make the pulp more drinkable. If I am making a vegetable/fruit drink that I'm not going to strain, I typically add a handful of ice and make sure to include some "watery" type ingredients (cucumber, melons, etc.). The more ice you add, the more drinkable it will become, but this all sort of varies depending on your ingredients, so you'll have to play it by ear a little. Start small with the ice and adjust until you get a consistency you like.
You can make a drink in the big pitcher and store it up to about 24 hours with no issues. Sometimes, I make my morning breakfast smoothie the night before and then just "freshen it up" by re-blending for 10-15 seconds in the morning.
Just wondering if the ninja blender will grind up flax seeds, almonds, other nuts/seeds. The nutribullet had a milling blade that I would use to grind the seeds or nuts by themselves separate from putting them in a smoothie. Do you know if the single serve cup blade will do this? I know it grinds them down when added to a smoothie, but how about if just the nuts/seeds are in there alone?
Yes, the Ninja will grind up flax seeds almonds and other nuts. You can even make nut butter if you want. If you have the single serve cup, you can get the best grind (a finer grind) but even the 72 ounce jar will grind.
I am interested in making single serve apple cider made to order at a farmers market from our orchard's apples. Can the new ninja with single serving make cider without removing the apple peel? Do you think it would be a good option for single serve made to order drinks? Looks like it would be simpler to clean than a juicer especially for one serving. Thanks.
I wouldn't recommend the single serve for this. It could make apple cider smoothies, yes, but if you want to make cider-like juice , you will have to strain the juice after blending it, which takes time and wouldn't be great in a customer-type setting, in my opinion.
I've had my ninja mega KS for about 2.5 years and love it. I also have the nutri bullet that I use for (supersize) single smoothies when everyone wants a different flavor and for nut butters just because it's a smaller machine. I recently saw the demo for a vitamix 6300 and at my request, the guy put carrots (with crushed ice and lemon juice) in and after blending for a few minutes he had actual juice. I drank it and there was absolutely no pulp. I've never been able to do that with the MKS. Is it possible to do this in any way with the MKS or maybe the vitamix did it because it is the 6300 and/or he used baby carrots (which I never buy). Looking forward to your response. Thanks!
Great question! I have never actually tried this with carrots – I usually strain the carrot juice (and, since I got a juicer, just juice them straight up).
However, I will give it a shot for you next week (need to go get baby carrots) and write up a post. The whole food juicing definitely works with softer things like in the Dr. Oz detox drink, but, my hunch is that there will be pulp with carrots, but we'll see! I also just got the Ninja Ultima, so I'll be curious to test how it does in that, which has more of a Vitamix-type capability.
I haven't forgotten about you! I am working on a post about this for next week, so stay tuned!
So, I posted back on October 12th and I recently took action and bought the Mega Ninja. I LOVE IT!!! I'm new to the world of smoothies and juice and there is one recipe in particular that I've had great success with.
I use non-fat greek yogurt, a banana, almond milk, peanut butter and two cups of baby spinach. It's a delicious meal replacement smoothie! I personally do not use ice in most of my smoothies. I prefer a very smooth texture. I think the ninja does a great job at breaking down the spinich. I add the liquids and banana first and blend for about 30 seconds, then add in the spinach and let it go for about a minute. I seem to get better results using the big blender but I'm still just learning!
Congrats on taking the leap and thanks for sharing your recipe!
Im interested in possibly doing a juice only fast, I have a gluten issues and wanting to give my intestines a break. I have heard masticating juicers are the best, but I own a ninja kitchen system now. Would it be possible to make great juices?
The best thing to do in this situation is add a handful of ice. The ice helps break up the pulp better and also provides a better consistency. It will still be thicker than juice, but more drinkable. Good luck!
Hi Angela, first off thank you so much for all of this Ninja information it's wonderful! I received the Mega Kitchen System for Christmas and I LOVE it so far! I am slowly learning how to make delicious smoothies and am trying to learn how to do more "juicing" with it without having to strain. I see in this blog post you said you used a slightly modified version of Dr. Oz's green juice recipe … can you give me the exact recipe that you used for this? It looks wonderful and I'd like to write it down and try making it this weekend, thanks in advance!
Blend on "2" until completely combined and enjoy!
Awesome thank you so much! My only question is can you use plain water in place of the coconut water?
I have a Brita pitcher so perfect, thanks again! I generally only use plain unsweetened almond milk in any of my smoothies and don't think that would go well with this recipe.
For this application, there is no real difference between Ninja Pro and Ninja Mega.
I have been juicing, but I lose all the pulp, which is really good for the body, so I ordered the new Ninja Mega System from Amazon, and when it arrived, I tried juicing in the single serve container. I chopped up a green apple, no core, a small peach, and I added 2 TBS crushed pineapple, 6 mint leaves, a slice of ginger, a capful of greens powder, a squeeze of lemon & some stevia with some ice cubes. I got a delicious, thick glass of juice–with no pieces, just a rich, tasty juice. It is supposed to be thick! You are getting all the nutrients. I am very pleased, as I thought I would have to use the blender to get decent juice, but this Ninja is quite powerful. I love it.
I juice carrots and apples every morning before I go to work, it's messy … Grrrr. I just received my Nutri-Ninja Blender DUO ( I'm So Excited !!!! ) I was wondering is there anything else I need to add in there .. I see everything else has some kind of liquid in it. Any suggestions would really help.
Has anyone tried wheatgrass juice in their ninja?
I would venture to guess that wouldn't work out so well in the Ninja, unless maybe you snipped the grass and froze it into ice cubes full of water. The Ninja blades aren't great with small items–they really need volume to work.


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The Waking Forest by Alyssa Wees + Bonus Content
THE WAKING FOREST by Alyssa Wees (Author Interview + 4 Good Things)
Today, I'm so happy to be hosting a debut author on my blog!
Alyssa Wees lives and writes in Chicago. Her debut novel is THE WAKING FOREST. To learn more about Alyssa and her writing, visit her website alyssawees.com and follow @alyssawees on Twitter.
I *love* helping to promote the books of women debut authors, and if you can't tell, I'm quite excited to boost Alyssa's debut from Delacourte Press!
Before we get to the fun interview, here's a quick summary of THE WAKING FOREST for you to read (taken from Amazon):
The waking forest has secrets. To Rhea, it appears like a mirage, dark and dense, at the very edge of her backyard. But when she reaches out to touch it, the forest vanishes. She's desperate to know more—until she finds a peculiar boy who offers to reveal its secrets. If she plays a game.
To the Witch, the forest is her home, where she sits on her throne of carved bone, waiting for dreaming children to beg her to grant their wishes. One night, a mysterious visitor arrives and asks her what she wishes for, but the Witch sends him away. And then the uninvited guest returns.
The strangers are just the beginning. Something is stirring in the forest, and when Rhea's and the Witch's paths collide, a truth more treacherous and deadly than either could ever imagine surfaces. But how much are they willing to risk to survive?
Sooo intriguing! If you're into spooky, mysterious books full of high-stakes twists and turns, you definitely want to check out THE WAKING FOREST.
Now, on to the author interview with Alyssa!
Sadie: If you could visit one mythical world (found in a book or movie), where would you go?
Alyssa: I would love to visit Fairyland from Catherynne M. Valente's Fairyland series! It has all the magic and whimsy that I love about Alice's Wonderland without also being absolutely terrifying!
S: Do you have a specific book that you read when you just need an escape?
A: Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente. I've read it so many times but the story and the writing knock the wind out of me every time.
S: What was your favorite book growing up?
A: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. It's such a sweet, humorous story that seems to somehow get better every time I re-read it!
S: Who do you most relate to in THE WAKING FOREST and why?
A: I'd have to say Rhea, the main character. Like Rhea, I'm sometimes afraid to do things outside of my comfort zone but I always try to do them anyway. She also loves her family fiercely, and in particular the relationships she has with her sisters was inspired by my own little sister.
S: Did you always want to be a writer? We'd love to know how you got started writing!
A: Always! I grew up in the 90s so I had a ton of Beanie Babies and I would write stories about them. In high school I finished my first novel, a Beauty and the Beast retelling. I'm very proud of it, even though it has way too many allusions to Twilight, which came out when I was a teen. Even when I didn't have much time between school and ballet (I began dancing when I was four and continued through college), I always managed to carve out little chunks of time for myself to write.
S: Many of my readers are aspiring authors themselves and are curious about the process of getting an agent. How long did it take you to query an agent, and how did you decide which company you wanted to represent you?
A: It took several months from my first query to sign with my wonderful agent. When making a decision, I think it's really important to find someone who is a great champion of your work and someone who will help you through every stage of the publishing process.
S: Favorite fictional couple (OTP = one true pairing)?
A: Hades and Persephone!
S: Did any songs inspire you when you were writing THE WAKING FOREST?
A: I love listening to music while I write but I didn't have a specific playlist while writing The Waking Forest. After I was done drafting though I realized that Come Little Children from Hocus Pocus fits the Witch of Wishes perfectly! As does Lana Del Rey's haunting cover of Once Upon a Dream from Sleeping Beauty.
S: Tell us what your book is about in 100 words or less!
A: The Waking Forest is about Rhea, the eldest of four sisters, who has terrifying visions of a forest no one else seems to see. When she makes a deal with a mysterious stranger in exchange for learning the forest's secrets, her family begins to disappear one by one. Meanwhile, the Witch of Wishes lives alone in the same forest that Rhea sees in visions. The Witch spends her nights granting wishes to children seeking her out in their dreams.
Wow, a huge thank you to Alyssa for participating in my Q&A session!
Next up, I have a "4 Good Things" post - something I do when I don't want to write anything to spoil the book for anyone. 😄 Some reviews just can't be written without including major spoilers, so "4 Good Things" is a spoiler-free way to enjoy reading about the book!
#1 - The gorgeous prose. The descriptions Alyssa weaves creates images so vivid in your mind that you can connect *that much more* with the story. Plus, when Alyssa describes her spookiest passages, you really start to feel on edge. It gives the whole story a great vibe!
#2 - The characters. Rhea and the Forest Witch are two completely separate characters, but as the story progresses, their lives become intertwined. Each has her own unique traits, but what I enjoyed the most was the fact that Alyssa was not scared to have "deeper" topics on display. Anxiety and nightmares are a big part of the story, and reading how the girls cope with their mental illness really adds some depth and thought to the story. It makes it more real, if that makes sense.
#3 - The Darkness. This is a character who watches (somewhat creepily) Rhea often. As things move on, we find some secrets that are held with The Darkness. Rhea calls Darkness a "him," and it was cool to see how Alyssa embodied the same thought of nightmares, dark, foreboding, etc., through him. He takes the form of a boy, and is kind of obsessed with Rhea...but you'll find out why in the book!
#4 - Twists and turns. Again, trying to stay spoiler free here, but *those plot twists,* y'all. When you read THE WAKING FOREST, be prepared for what you expect to happen to not happen. Ever. The whole plot is so mysterious, and once you think you have the story figured out, along comes a new character or side plot. Alyssa definitely keeps her readers thinking!
I hope you all enjoyed this post about THE WAKING FOREST by Alyssa Wees. Don't forget to check out Alyssa on her social channels! You can also pre-order THE WAKING FOREST here:
Pre-Order THE WAKING FOREST
YA Book Review: BLOODLEAF by Crystal Smith
BLOODLEAF by Crystal Smith
(I received this book for free, courtesy of Crystal, in exchange for an honest review).
[little to no spoilers]
I haven't been this excited for a debut book in a long time! Crystal Smith weaves a haunting, sinister tale of freedom in a land where witches are persecuted, magic is deadly, and the lines between good and evil are blurred.
Short summary from Amazon.com:
Princess Aurelia is a prisoner to her crown and the heir that nobody wants. Surrounded by spirits and banned from using her blood-magic, Aurelia flees her country after a devastating assassination attempt. To escape her fate, Aurelia disguises herself as a commoner in a new land and discovers a happiness her crown has never allowed. As she forges new bonds and perfects her magic, she begins to fall for a man who is forbidden to rule beside her. But the ghosts that haunt Aurelia refuse to abandon her, and she finds herself succumbing to their call as they expose a nefarious plot that only she can defeat. Will she be forced to choose between the weight of the crown and the freedom of her new life?
Aurelia is a unique main character, and accompanied by the hint of a love triangle, she is a girl that readers will fall in love with from the start. She is a witch that uses blood magic – meaning that she performs magic using her own blood. I must admit that at first, this concept disturbed me. Who wants to cut themselves every time they have to perform a spell? But, as I read on in the story, I realized that it is because Aurelia has to use her own blood that she is not as willing to use her magic as often as other MCs in the fantasy genre. Each time she performs a spell, it hurts her, so she must decide how best to use her magic. The quote on the front of the book sums it up nicely: "The strongest magic requires the greatest sacrifice." Because of this extra challenge placed in front of Aurelia, in addition to everything going on in her life, I think this makes her an especially unique and intriguing MC.
Most everything about BLOODLEAF is unique, which is one of the reasons why I enjoyed it so much. I can never enjoy a book if I don't believe the world-building; I'm happy to say that Crystal Smith does a brilliant job on perfecting her world. While the persecution of witches reminded me of the Salem Witch Trials, the setting takes the reader back to the Middle Ages or Renaissance time periods. Anyone who knows me knows I am obsessed with the history of medieval times, and BLOODLEAF was a great combination of real-world medieval ideas and motifs with fantastical elements tied in. Plus, anyone looking for a not-so-average court drama book will enjoy this. Even though Aurelia is royalty, most of the book takes place out of the castle. So, Aurelia understands what life is like outside of a castle's sanctuary and in her disguise, she can interact with "commoners" and people she wouldn't usually talk to. She makes some new friends, including a kind woman and her husband, and a mysterious (and very handsome) stranger called Zan.
(Mild spoiler section about relationships. Feel free to skip it):
At the beginning of the book, we see Aurelia's interactions with Kellan, a knight/guard in her court. It's clear from the beginning that Aurelia loves Kellan, but she makes a sacrifice in order to protect him. (I won't spoil anything!). The one aspect of the book I wasn't a big fan of was that Kellan "leaves" for over half the book, and Aurelia starts a sort of hate/love relationship with Zan. Then, when Kellan returns, Aurelia doesn't have any conflicting feelings about her relationships with Kellan and Zan. I expected Aurelia to be happy that Kellan, her lifelong friend, was back, but she seems to want to remain with Zan. I was left with a feeling of confusion at Aurelia's relationship status, but this could be part of the author's plan so she can expand on it in the next book.
(End spoiler section)
As a horse rider and lover myself, I absolutely love it when horsemanship is included in a fantasy book. There's no doubt that Aurelia loves her horse, and it was great to see their relationship and interactions throughout most of the book. This book impacted me in many ways because of the powerful language and descriptions, but something happened to Aurelia's horse that made me so sad and angry at the people who did it. It's at this point when Aurelia decides that she has to do what she knows is right, and the part when I felt the most moved in the story. The imagery that Crystal uses is so vivid and in-your-face, that it makes the read that much better. You can almost experience what Aurelia is going through along with her.
BLOODLEAF features almost non-stop action and adventure, and Aurelia certainly contributes to a lot of that. She is a good female MC because, while she is feisty and strong, she is still relatable and has her moments. I was happy to see that she's not the typical warrior woman fantasy trope. Warning: prepare for much sadness throughout the book, and don't go getting attached to anyone. That's all I'll say. Even though parts of the book were so gut-wrenching, that didn't stop me from devouring the book in almost one day. I hate to admit it, but whoever said kill your darlings was right...it certainly made BLOODLEAF into a fast-paced and entertaining read.
All in all, I predict that BLOODLEAF will be the next big fantasy book series. In the future, I think because of Crystal's masterful storytelling and the ability to evoke strong emotions from her readers, she will be on many readers' "auto-buy" list. I am so excited to see what happens next in this medieval fantasy, and can't wait to see BLOODLEAF become as popular as some of our favorite YA fantasy novels!
BLOODLEAF receives 4.5 stars out of 5.
Find Crystal Smith on Twitter and Instagram at @crysrensmith.
You can pre-order BLOODLEAF using my Amazon affiliate link below (disclaimer: I do get a very small commission from any purchase):
FFBC Tour Stop ~ Q&A with THE WARRIOR MAIDEN's Melanie Dickerson
The Fantastic Flying Book Club blog tour schedule for THE WARRIOR MAIDEN.
Hi, everyone! It's Sadie, proud to be participating in my first blog tour with FFBC!
Check out the book info and synopsis of THE WARRIOR MAIDEN, then move on to a quick message from me, an exclusive Q&A with Melanie Dickerson, and a fun giveaway!
The Warrior Maiden (Hagenheim #9)
by Melanie Dickerson
Release Date: February 5th 2019
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Romance, Retellings, Christian Fiction
From New York Times bestselling author Melanie Dickerson comes a fresh
reimagining of the classic Mulan tale.
Mulan isn't afraid to pretend to be a son and assume her father's soldier duties in
war. But what happens when the handsome son of a duke discovers her secret?
Mulan is trying to resign herself to marrying the village butcher for the good of her
family, but her adventurous spirit just can't stand the thought. At the last minute, she
pretends to be the son her father never had, assumes his duties as a soldier, and rides
off to join the fight to protect the castle of her liege lord's ally from the besieging
Teutonic Knights.
Wolfgang and his brother Steffan leave Hagenheim with several other soldiers to
help their father's ally in Poland. When they arrive, Wolfgang is exasperated by the
young soldier Mikolai who seems to either always be one step away from disaster…or showing Wolfgang up in embarrassing ways.
When Wolfgang discovers his former rival and reluctant friend Mikolai is actually
a girl, he is determined to protect her. But battle is a dangerous place where anything
can happen—and usually does.
When Mulan receives word that her mother has been accused of practicing
witchcraft through her healing herbs and skills, Mulan's only thought is of defending
her. Will she be able to trust Wolfgang to help? Or will sacrificing her own life be
the only way to save her mother?
I'm so excited to be participating in the FFBC's blog tour of THE WARRIOR MAIDEN by Melanie Dickerson. Stick around at the end of the post for an awesome giveaway, the link to the blog tour schedule, and where to find THE WARRIOR MAIDEN!
1. How did you get the idea for your book?
The germ of the idea started when I took my daughter to see Disney on Ice! I watched all
those fairy tales represented by princesses, and I thought, I'd really like to do an Aladdin
story and a Mulan story. I think I had done all the others! But when I started thinking about
how to do a Mulan story within the story world I had created in Medieval Germany, I knew I
needed a war, or some sort of military conflict, and I wanted to include a hero, and I wanted
that hero to be one of the Gerstenberg brothers from Hagenheim. I had to research the conflicts going on at that time in history. I also needed a villain. I studied the Teutonic
Knights and their ravaging raids on Poland and Lithuania, and boom, my story was born! I
created an ally in Poland for Duke Wilhelm so he could send his sons to fight on his behalf,
to save his castle and people, and I created a backstory for Mulan, a half-Asian child of war,
now living with Lithuanian parents, also sent to fight for the Polish duke. It wasn't hard to
imagine Wolfgang falling in love with Mulan!
2. What made you want to start writing?
I loved stories, loved reading. I read so many classics when I was a kid. We were fairly poor,
and I went to a very small school, and the only books at the library were classics. I devoured
them. I also always had a great love for fairy tales, and I was a romantic from at least the age
of five, when I told my Kindergarten teacher who my crushes were. I started writing in
middle school, I think, although I don't really remember. I did start writing romantic stories
in 6th grade that I would let my friends read. It was fun, and I dreamed of being a writer
from probably around the age of 12.
3. If you could live in one fictional world, where would it be?
My favorite novel is Pride and Prejudice, followed closely by Jane Eyre, but women had
really hard lives back then, and I'm not sure I could follow those awful social rules! I guess I
would pick the Medieval world of Ivanhoe, but only if I can be Ivanhoe's wife and true love
and live in a castle!
4. Which fictional character do you most identify with?
That's also a tough question. I identify a lot with most of my favorite characters. Definitely
Anne of Green Gables, Jane Eyre, Elizabeth Bennet . . . just about any character I'm reading
about, but those are some of my favorites.
5. Name a song that is always stuck in your head.
Lately the songs stuck in my head are either the last song I listened to on the new
Switchfoot album, Native Tongue, or the last song I listened to from the new Lauren
Daigle album, Look Up, Child. I think those are their best albums. Switchfoot is just
my all-time favorite band, so I frequently have one of their songs stuck in my head,
more than any other band or song.
6. If you could give advice to aspiring young authors, what would it be?
I would say, there is so much great information on the internet for free. You can literally
study the blogs of successful writers from years and never run out of excellent material. So do that. And never, ever give up. It can be a long hard road to success in this business, so never give up!
Want to win a copy of THE WARRIOR MAIDEN for yourself? Then, click on the Rafflecopter below and follow all the rules to be entered to win!
Prize: Win (1) physical copy of THE WARRIOR MAIDEN by Melanie Dickerson (US
ONLY) or e-copy for (INT)
Giveaway Starts: 30th January, 2019
Giveaway Ends: 13th February, 2019
Melanie Dickerson is a New York Times bestselling author, a two-time Christy
Award finalist, two-time Maggie Award winner, Carol Award winner, two-time
winner of the Christian Retailing's Best award, and her book, The Healer's
Apprentice, won the National Readers Choice Award for Best First Book. She is a
member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and Romance Writers of
America (RWA). Melanie earned a bachelors degree in special education of the
hearing impaired from The University of Alabama and has worked as a teacher in
Georgia, Tennessee, and Ukraine. She lives with her husband and two children in
Huntsville, Alabama.
Bookdepository:
B&N:
Thank you all for reading, and don't forget to check out my bookstagram post of THE WARRIOR MAIDEN here!
~Sadie


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How Toyota Dethroned GM as the Number One Automaker in the United States
Thread starter Richard Cranium
FBBO Gold Member
Maskachusetts
For the first time ever, a foreign car company became the number one automaker in America in 2021. Toyota outsold General Motors, which had been the top-selling carmaker since 1931. Toyota sold 2.3 million vehicles in 2021, increasing their sales by 10% from 2020; at GM, sales dropped by 13% from 2020.
One of the contributing factors to the end of GM's reign atop the car market was issues in the supply chain that led to semiconductor chip shortages. Here's what happened over the year that led to Toyota's ascension to the number one carmaker in the U.S. — and implications the company's strategy has for the auto market in the future.
The Auto Market in 2021
Many industries have been disrupted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the auto industry was no different. However, some experts see pandemic-related supply chain issues as a detour for the long-term changes taking place across the auto industry.
Consumer demand for electric cars is one trend shifting the dynamic of the auto market. Many companies are spending billions to design battery-powered cars and the manufacturing plants that can produce these models. Most automakers are a long way off from competing with Tesla, but nevertheless, have prioritized spending with this goal in mind.
Toyota's Prius, a hybrid vehicle, is the dominant model in this category, though Toyota is considered behind in the race to launch a fully-electric car. GM, on the other hand, was forced to suspend its manufacturing of the Chevrolet Bolt, its main electric vehicle, because of a battery issue.
Gaining market share in the electric vehicle category was among the top priorities for both GM and Toyota until the pandemic started. But COVID-19 changed the dynamic significantly, causing a semiconductor chip shortage that reverberated for automakers worldwide.
Causes of the Semiconductor Chip Shortage
There were a number of factors that contributed to the semiconductor chip shortage. First, demand spiked for cars following the pandemic, an unexpected outcome for which many automakers were not prepared. This was followed by a series of unfortunate events that few could have predicted.
"A freak cold snap in Texas in February shut down factories at top chipmakers. Drought in Taiwan around the same time threatened to dry up the island's semiconductor supplies (since chipmaking requires pools of water to wash away industrial chemicals)," wrote Fortune. "Then, in March, a fire tore through a factory at Japan's Renesas — a key chip supplier for the industry."
Ultimately, this forced GM, Ford, and European carmakers to slash production dramatically. By one estimate, the global car market lost about 4% of total sales in 2021 — roughly $110 billion in revenue.
Toyota, however, was less impacted than GM and other carmakers. This was because the brand learned from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, during which the company struggled for about six months to recover. To prevent future downtime, Toyota designed a new strategy.
"The automaker came up with a list of about 1,500 parts it deemed necessary to secure alternatives for or to stockpile. The company also put in place an intricate system to monitor the vast network of suppliers that produce those items—and the smaller companies those suppliers buy materials from—to develop an early-warning system for shortages," reported Bloomberg.
This strategy allowed Toyota to stabilize production and carefully manage its supply chains, ultimately beating out GM for the top spot in 2021.
The Future for Toyota and GM
Though Toyota may be on top for the moment, the company itself doesn't expect to dominate for long. "Yes, we did surpass General Motors in sales," said Jack Hollis, Toyota North America's senior vice president of automotive operations. "But to be clear, that is not our goal, nor do we see it as sustainable."
As the global economy and supply chain recovers, GM is likely to turn its attention back to fixing the flaws of its electric vehicle. The company has announced its goal to produce only electric vehicles by 2035. If anything, GM's sales results in 2021 prove that GM should focus not only on creating new technology but also on shoring up supplies of the technology it needs for its existing products.
BeepBeepRR
Atlanta,Ga
Its really more simple.. Toyota makes a better vehicle than GM. I drive one every day.
bandit67
Heart of Dixie.....
I think the public perceives Toyota as a lower priced and better designed, more trouble free autos and trucks than GMs. Somebody taught the Asian carmakers how to sell to Americans.......
yella71
SW FL
bandit67 said:
Yeah...The Americans
Secret of life is enjoying the passage of time JT
Land of Enchantment
Hope this wasn't posted here earlier, if so, disregard
Kind of long but VERY informative.
Not meant to be political so please hold your comments - don't want deleted.
Also....
yella71 said:
Ding, Ding, Ding!!!! CORRECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dr. William Edwards Deming (1900-1993) was one of the pillars of the quality revolution after World War 2. As statistician, engineer, and a physicist, he's the first American quality guru who brought the message of Quality to Japan in the early 1950s.
https://www.digileaf.com/blog/general-quality/spotlights-on-for-quality-guru-dr-w-edwards-deming/
I have a 2005 Toyota Tacoma. I bought it used it has 235k miles on it. My Co-worker bought a 2018 Chevy Silverado. Since about 4 weeks after buying the silverado he had a number 8 cylinder misfire. I told him not to be driving it like that but he never listened. He finally got around to taking it to a shop and he had 0 compression on number 8. Pretty sure he melted a hole in number 8 cylinder. My toyota has not missed a beat and just had my emissions done and was not afraid to take it there.. I knew it would pass with flying colors.
WileERobby
State of insanity
Never bought/owned a toyota or any foreign company car. Never will. Funny. Although I buy/drive mopars, I've bought GM and Ford vehicles for family many times over the years. Each and every one of them as good or better than imports. Ex: bought a new Impala, in 8 years only non-maintenance repair was a clogged fuel vent line, cost $45. In the auto business, my perception is people who buy foreign cars are more conscientious about routine maintenence.
YY1
I read that the ford mach-E (call it a mustang if you want, but I won't), despite the hate it's received on boards like this...is now the second best selling full electric SUV, behind the tesla Y.
YY1 said:
I read that the ford mach-E.
Mercury is building starships.
440 PHIXX
The Island of Misfit Mopars
Lansdale Pa.
I'll never drive a Toyota. Or a Honda.
I did have a Honda 50 Mini Trail as a kid tho...
I had a silverado work truck for years.. Many many problems with that truck. Transmission 2 times, misfire, catalytic converters, Electrical issues galore. You cannot sell me on the reliability of a GM product. We also had Astro vans, Express vans and Savannas. My boss was a Chevy guy and every one of them were piles of junk.
I maintain that the reputation earned by US automakers during the late 70's through the early 90's is still the main reason most people perceive Japanese and other foreign cars as "better".
I'll also say that my wife must either be one of the five people that have had bad luck with toyotas or one of the five people that's not for whatever reason, afraid to discuss it.
She had a celica in the early-mid 90's (I still haven't figured out exactly which year despite showing her several pictures), and said it was one of the worst cars she's ever owned.
Endeavor to persevere
Coastal Georgia
Other/more data. Maybe it needs to be updated.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/264362/leading-car-brands-in-the-us-based-on-vehicle-sales/#:~:text=In 2021, Toyota overtook Ford,1.8 million vehicles in 2020.
rumblefish360
100% behind that remark. I have seen disasters from both American and Japanese cars. A neighbor of mine "Used to be a Chevy fan" until there pair of SUV's treated them worse than a red headed step child in a racist family. Incredible how often these to vehicle were down.
They now own trouble free Hyundai SUV's.
On the flip side, an old school mate works at a Nissan dealership. Being both gear heads since Jr. High school, we got talking. He has no love or hate for any manufacturer and has stated that no matter where he was, a car is a car is a car and they all come in bar now one brand more than another and no problem different or odd. He laughed and said "They all suck!" And that's what keeps me feed and housed." He was also telling me of other mechanics in other dealerships with the same conclusion.
I was given a ribbing (all in good fun of course) on my '79 Magnum and it's wonderful lean burn and it's known issue of suddenly cutting out. The previous owner used the orange box conversion.
I bought the car with everything working except the A/C.
His paper work of repairs was quite extensive in details but not a long list of things outside the normal repair and replacement parts listings. The 318 had over 323K miles on it in 10 years.
Since owning it, the rear defrost just stopped working.
As use gear heads know, up keep of fluid and filters are key to long life and so did the last owner. If anything else goes bad, it's probably just from use. Everything has a life span and when it's done, it's done.
Billccm
Actually GM has been Toyota's best salesman since the late 1970s.
It just took 50 years to erode the GM market share it had built.
Last edited: Mar 4, 2022
Runcharger
As long as the GM execs collect their huge bonuses all is well.
coronet68mx
Uruapan, Michoacán, México
The only Chevy car I ever own was a 1994 pontiac Bonneville, regular maintace, had to change the ECU twice the dis module at least five times while I own the car, problems with the transmission and countless electric gizmos, love the design of the car but even my mom made fun of me about how many times I had to fix that car.
zyzzyx
Lisle, Illinois
I resisted buying foriegn for years. All through the 80's and 90's. Watched jobs get eliminated.
Was mad at the Japanese car companies. In 2002, I finally got tired of owning cars that have
more miles going up and down on a lift than driving forward! In 2002, I bought a Toyota Sequoia
for $42k. Still driving it today. Frame rust problems, but runs like a top. Twenty years and still
doing great. In 2017, I bought my Wife a 2007 RX 350 Lexus. Wow! I'm no longer mad at the
Japanese car companies, I'm mad at G.M. and Ford! The idiots could not change, so they will
go the ways of the dinosaur. Mary Barra is another idiot. They won't change. Come on Tesla!
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Joeyt66
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text:
Q: TypeScript External Node Module Declaration File For Typings I have a Node.js module (index.js) that has been transpiled with Babel to the code as follows:
// My stuff ...
var fs = require("fs");
var path = require("path");

exports.fileContent = fs.readFileSync(
  path.join(__dirname, "file.txt"),
  'utf8'
);

// Babel compiler stuff ...
Object.defineProperty(
  exports,
  "__esModule",
  { value: true }
);

// My stuff again ...
exports.default = exports.fileContent;

Usage in Node.js would be:
var myModule = require("my-module");

doSomethingWithIt( myModule.fileContent );

As far as I understand, I need to create a .d.ts declaration file and reference it in the typings field in my package.json. And also, this declaration file has to be a module. So my first approach after reading several tutorials about this topic was:
// index.d.ts

declare module "my-module" {
  export const fileContent: string;
  export default fileContent;
}

But sadly, this was a fail:
[...] error TS2656: Exported external package typings file 'index.d.ts' is not a module. [...]

My next approach was to get rid of the declare module thing:
export const fileContent: string;
export default fileContent;

This works for me, but however feels wrong as I did not find any .d.ts example file that is not using the declare stuff. I also noticed that I should not use export default in a namespace/module, which leads me to the point where I don't understand how to declare the default export of my module at all.
Here are my questions:

*

*How do I do this the right way?

*How can I make sure that TypeScript recognizes the default property?

*Do I need to use the declare module stuff?

*Do I need to declare the imports (fs and path)?

Edit:
After a bit more researching and fiddling, I think I have found the solution by myself. As far as I understand, the external module description/declaration has to be a module—which means that it has to import or export something: In this case, it has to export the declaration and the declared constant as the default export as well:
export declare const fileContent: string;
export default fileContent;

A: error TS2656: ... is not a module happens when trying to use ES6 style imports and the definition does not export a module.
I suggest changing your definition to
declare module MyModule {
    export const fileContent: string;
}

declare module "my-module" {
    export default MyModule
}

Since this definition is now "default exporting" a module, it can be imported using the default ES6 import syntax
import MyModule from "my-module"

Then use it
MyModule.fileContent...


text:
| Districts | Streets | Maps |
Stoke-on-Trent Districts: Lower Lane
next: Fenton House - the home of William Baker
previous: Location of Lower Lane
Lower Lane, Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
The Bakers - the family who 'built' Fenton:
The pottery works of the Baker and Bourne families
The factory occupied by Bourne, Baker and Bourne, stood on the north side of the turnpike road from Longton to Stoke.
By 1807 the firm had grown and a second pottery factory was built on the south side of the road.........
...... listed in an insurance policy dated 13 November 1807: "On a set of potworks and workhouses communicating at Fenton Culvert valued at £1,000. Stock and utensils therein valued at £1,600.
The line of the tramway from the canal in Stoke, through
Fenton to Longton
photo - 2000, taken from Hitchman Street looking across Fountain Street
The Trent & Mersey or Caldon canals did not serve Fenton or Longton and so in 1806 the Trent and Mersey Canal Company had built a tramway from a wharf on the canal at Stoke through Fenton to Longton.
The tramway ran along the northern edge of the factory and a branch line was built into the middle of the factory buildings which enabled raw materials and pottery to be carried cheaply to and from the works.
The business flourished and was described by Ward 1843:
"Here are the very extensive earthen manufactories, which for many years were carried on by the firm of Bourne, Baker and Bourne and raised the proprietors to the first rank amongst the eminent and opulent potters who flourished during the by-gone portion of the present century.... They combine every advantageous arrangement, with mill work and machinery for the exercise of the potters' operations."
Ralph Bourne die in 1835 and shortly afterwards the partnership was dissolved and the works were carried on by William Baker alone.
The mark of William Baker
Most of the original factory has been demolished but part of the entrance and factory frontage have survived in what is now City Road.
By 1878 the factory on the south side of the road had become an encaustic tileworks.
By the late 1820s the Baker and Bourne families owned over 100 houses and the Roebuck Inn in Fenton. Most of them were situated on the north and south sides of the High Street (now City Road) between Pear Tree Lane (now Manor Street) and Victoria Place.
questions / comments / contributions? email: Steve Birks


According to an embedded journalist, the UN and its human right agencies failed to maintain humanitarian aid supplies to Aleppo residents.
All the aid that the western countries delivered to Syria was sent to terrorist organizations, which means that the West does not care about the Syrian people, Syrian President Bashar Assad told the RT broadcaster in an interview.
During a meeting in Beijing, representatives of China and Iran reaffirmed their readiness to expand economic cooperation, investment and banking activities.
Iran has won support from China in the face of possible new American sanctions against Tehran. This was one of the main results of Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif's trip to Asia which ended on December 8. On December 3-8, the diplomat visited India, China and Japan, the three largest buyers of Iranian crude.
Advocacy groups for children and consumers are going to sue national authorities for allegedly gathering personal data toys, the European Consumer Organization (BEUC) said in a statement on Tuesday.
US President-elect Donald Trump proposed on Tuesday to punish US citizens for burning the US flag by revoking their citizenship or by imprisonment.
From fake news to censored posts: facebook is facing a backlash over it's China suppression tool.


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You can download Painbusters, a cartoon guide to pain relief at Alder Hey. It's designed for the whole family and you can read about how we can measure pain, how we can manage pain, the types of pain medicine we use, and some special pain-relieving techniques we can use after surgery.